The many Kent State students and families who live in Allerton Apartments will soon be looking for a new place to call home.

For some residents, this might come as sad news, but freshman exploratory major Melinda Francois said she is ready to get out.

“It’s so small, and it’s not the cheapest rent,” Francois said.

Kent State announced in a press release last month that by Summer 2015, the Allerton Apartment complex would be closed and demolished.

“They’ve just outlived their lifespan,” said Brian Hellwig, Allerton Apartment manager. “And so at this point, it would cost much more to renovate or do anything to them than it would to close them, so it’s a financial situation at this point.”

The university’s plan will phase the buildings out over time. In July of 2011, the first two buildings to close will be buildings L and M. Buildings F, J and K will close in 2012, and the final four — A, B, C and D — will close summer of 2015.

Residents that decide to stay with Allerton until it closes for good in 2015 will be moved to another building and given a free month’s rent for the inconvenience.

The apartment offices will inform residents six months in advance of the closing to give them time to explore their options.

“Once Allerton does close, we will be working with students who do want housing in the communities and refer them to selected apartments in the area,” Hellwig said.

Kent State’s director of Residence Services, Betsy Joseph, suggested residents contact the Commuter and Off-Campus Student Organization, for a listing of all the different apartment complexes available in the community.

Francois is one of many students who has taken advantage of Allerton being on the bus line.

Francois and her husband, who was recently laid off from his job, presently do not have transportation.

“It has been extremely convenient because you’re on the bus line,” Francois said. “We’re close enough to the store if we had to walk there or ride the bus. One thing I do like about this (place) is it’s pretty quiet, there’s never any trouble, and it’s pretty peaceful being here I think.”

Francois and her family enjoyed the planned activities the apartment complex sets up for the residents.

“They do a lot with the families, you don’t find that anywhere else,” Francois said.

When asked what she thought about the conditions of her apartment, Francois said, “I feel it’s fine; everything works.”

Francois said she had a minor plumbing problem once, but that was the only issue she had in the year she’s lived there. “It doesn’t seem like these are that bad to have it shut down.”

The Allerton Apartments have been a part of Kent State for more than 40 years. Construction of the complex was done in two phases, the first was completed in 1962 and in 1966 the Allerton Apartments complex was finished.

Since then, two buildings were demolished in 2006 due to lack of occupancy and physical repairs that would be extremely expensive to fix.

Joseph explained why Allerton was left off the remodel list throughout the years of Kent State’s renovations.

“We did not believe it was smart financially for us to do that because we could not renovate them to the type of condition that students would want to and still keep the rates as low as they are,” Joseph said. “So we just needed to focus on what is our primary mission — that is, to house freshmen and sophomores.”

Joseph said there are no future plans for the land, and they are not looking into replacing the Allerton Apartments with more student housing.

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Contact Amanda Crumm at [email protected].